Fun car games for your family road trip

Molly Cerreta Smith loves writing about all things mommy, parenting, food, health and travel. When she's not staring into the face of her Mac, she loves to hike, read, do messy crafts with her kids and compete in BBQ competitions with he...

Car-friendly family games

Instead of waiting until you arrive at your destination to bond with your kids, utilize the time on the road to enjoy some fun games as a family. Hint — the time will pass by more quickly and you're less likely to hear "Are we there yet?" if your kids are having too much fun to notice every passing mile.

I'm going on a road trip and I'm going to bring…

Work your kids' memory muscles without them even realizing it by playing a game during which they have to remember a long list of items. Start with a relevant sentence like "I'm going on a road trip and I'm going to bring apples…"

Each player after that must recite the sentence and the running list and then add an item in alphabetical order. The second player, for example, would say, "I'm going on a road trip and I'm going to bring apples and bikes."

The ABC game

Nearly every family has its own version of the alphabet game. In one version, look for each letter of the alphabet (in alphabetical order) on signs, license plates or buildings. For another version, look for things that start with each letter of the alphabet (again, going in alphabetical order), like an armadillo, building or cactus. You can choose any variation that you like or make up your own.

Whiteboard games

A simple whiteboard, along with dry erase markers (or dry erase crayons for little ones), is the perfect template for endless games of tic-tac-toe and hangman.

Road trip bingo

Before you set out on your trip, purchase a fun game like Melissa & Doug's Flip to Win Bingo (Amazon.com, $13), or make your own bingo cards with travel-related pictures (car, truck, traffic light, exit sign, rest stop, etc.) instead of numbers and letters. Laminate the boards and bring along crayons for marking off the pictures.

I spy…

I spy is a classic road trip game that can go on forever. Each person takes a turn "spying" an item on the road (or inside the car), and the other passengers must take turns guessing what the item is. The person who guesses correctly gets the next turn to "spy" something.

20 Questions

Another classic car-trip entertainer, 20 questions is easy enough for even your littlest road trippers to play along. One person thinks of a person, place, thing or animal, and the other passengers have to ask questions (up to 20) to guess the item.

Incentives and prizes

At the beginning, you may be the most enthusiastic player when it comes to the road trip car games, but with a few incentives (ahem, cool prizes), all your passengers will really get into the game before long. Before your trip, head to the dollar store or the cheapie bins at Target for some fun gifts to give as prizes for the road trip game winners.